News from 30th January 2008

A series of articles were published on the net the 30th of January, below are the links for them to be read.1) Well-wishers detained outside Hu Jia’s Beijing home – from “chinaelections.net“
Chinese well-wishers and bloggers were detained and questioned by police standing guard outside the home of detained AIDS activist Hu Jia, reporting their experience later online.Dozens of petitioners went to Hu Jia’s home in an eastern suburb of Beijing on Sunday, in a bid to bring baby formula to Hu’s wife Zeng Jinyan. Zeng has been held with her baby daughter under house arrest since Hu’s arrest Dec. 27 for “subverting state power.” Their internet and phone connections have been cut off.Some of the well-wishers were taken to the Dispersion Center for petitioners from out of town, suggesting they travelled from elsewhere in China to help Zeng. [continues…]

BEIJING – When state security agents burst into his apartment last month, Hu Jia was chatting on Skype, the Internet-based telephone system. Mr. Hu’s computer was his most potent tool. He disseminated information about human rights cases, peasant protests and other politically touchy topics even though he often lived under de facto house arrest. [continues…]

BEIJING – Nearly two dozen plainclothes police swarmed the apartment on a December afternoon, confiscating laptops, cell phones, bank cards and books. The wife, who was bathing her 6-week-old daughter, heard nothing. The husband, China’s brashest dissident, was quietly whisked away.In a matter of minutes, Hu Jia had vanished into the country’s state security system.The Dec. 27 raid sent a clear message that the Chinese leadership is determined to silence critics ahead of this summer’s Beijing Olympics. [continues…]